Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ The Silver Bullet ( Chapter 84 )

Chapter Eighty-Four

The Silver Bullet

“Oh Kami,” Yukiko kept muttering, as screams and gunfire echoed upstairs.

“Ignore it, just watch the color of that,” Ai muttered, dripping more antidote into the now mostly-full pot. “Kami, it takes me long enough to make just a capsule's worth, we're running out of time...”

“Ai-kun!” Agasa suddenly cried, waving the Pandora that he had been examining closely for some minutes. “There's a problem!”

Whatever he had been about to say, however, was lost; there was a horrible scream of pain and a nasty thumpcrack at the top of the stairs.

“That was Yuu-chan!” Yukiko screamed, starting for the doors but then backing protectively in front of Ai as someone thumped into it. They thumped again, the desk refusing to budge, before a blast of gunfire burst through the door, creating a weakened spot that someone thrust their fist through and then used to push the desk aside with one hand. Agasa tossed the jewel to Yukiko, standing protectively in front of her and Ai.

“Dunk it!” he cried. “Quick- AARGH!”

“HAKASE!” Ai screamed as he collapsed, bleeding from the gut. Yukiko grabbed her with shaking but firm hands as she started forwards, trying instead to pull her over to the pot full of antidote.

The man in the doorway was a terrifying sight to behold, his icy eyes blazing, his fists bloody, the sight made no less terrifying by the fact that Vermouth was right behind him with an oddly tense face. Ai knew that this had to be Red Rum, the Organization's elusive boss; the immortal Ushi.

“The Star!” he roared, eyes widening and the fire in them going supernova at the sight of his long-lost jewel, shooting at Yukiko. She screamed in fear, diving out of the line of fire, dropping Ai who was below it anyway- away from the pot.

“Yukiko-san!” Ai screamed, reaching out her hands, asking for the jewel. Yukiko made to toss it to her, but it was intercepted in midair by Red Rum, who kicked at Ai. She cried out in pain as she was tossed like a football, crashing into the pot, which spilled, clear blue antidote flowing across the floor.

“No... the antidote...” Agasa croaked. He was still alive, but he was so pale, so much red liquid pooling around him...

“Kaa-san! Hakase! Haibara!”

Kudo burst into the room, blazing with fury, his darker blue eyes full of just as much fire as Ushi and only growing stronger as he took in Agasa-Hakase, lying in a pool of blood, and his mother trying to crawl over to Ai without getting shot.

“The Star!” Red Rum cried, raising the jewel triumphantly, reverting to English in his joy. “After so long... after so, so long...”

“Sharon-chan-” Yukiko cried desperately, slipping on the antidote as she stood protectively before Ai- she couldn't stand, there was an icy pain in her chest which surely promised broken ribs, but she tried to climb to her feet as Red Rum turned his gun on her. She paled and began to tremble but did not move from in front of Ai.

“Kami, no, nobody else, please...” Ai gasped, trying to stand up, blinded by pain. A Bunsen burner- no longer lit due to its cord snapping in midair but still burning hot- slammed into Red Rum's cheek. He yelped in pain as the hot metal burned him, raising his gun on Kudo.

“No!”

To Ai's shock, it was Vermouth who threw herself in front of Kudo, taking the bullet. She remained standing even though she bent slightly over her injured gut.

“Eta, what are you doing?” Red Rum said in shock, raising the jewel. “We have it now...”

“Guess again, Johnny.”

Kid leaned against the doorway, holding up the Pandora. Red Rum stared at the jewel in his hand. Eta suddenly laughed.

“You don't fool us!” he sneered, remembering to return to Japanese though staring at Eta as though she were insane. “We saw the red flashlight in your sleeve-”

“I meant you to,” Kid said, snapping his fingers. The jewel in Red Rum's hands exploded in a puff of smoke. With a roar of rage, he raised his gun on Kid, but he shot it away with his card gun, lightning fast, predicting his rage. He ran towards Ushi, tossing the jewel almost imperceptibly to Kudo.

“Destroy it!” he cried, firing again on Red Rum to distract him. Eta had tipped her head to the side as the jewel passed her, falling silent, as if listening to somebody.

“The antidote-” Kudo cried, falling to his knees, staring desperately at the spilled liquid, the colour diluted to almost clear as it spread across the floor.

“Here,” Vermouth said, her voice odd, gentle, soft. She took the Pandora from Kudo, kneeling, her free hand going to her stomach wound as blood dripped down her chin. Before Kudo could protest, she rolled the Pandora across the ground, through the spilled antidote. It began smoking as soon as it touched the liquid, diminishing.

“Damn you, Eta!” Red Rum cried angrily, ducking and weaving to avoid Kaito's cards, fast enough to avoid them, nimble enough to draw closer to them…. “You betray me now?!”

“Hold it!” Kaito yelled, trying to get between Red Rum and the others, kicking at him, but Red Rum struck out, and Kaito's leg broke with a horrible snap. He fell, screaming in pain, his white trouser leg instantly staining red.

“Kaito!” Aoko screamed. She and Ran came running down the stairs, Aoko desperately tried to climb the furniture and smashed door fragments that Red Rum had left behind him, desperate to reach Kaito. Ran motioned at her to help her move the desk aside, yelling angrily at Red Rum, while he stalked towards the smoking jewel. Yukiko picked up Ai, crawling away, crouching protectively in front of Kudo as he rolled the jewel through the spilled antidote. Eta watched, nodding and smiling a little dreamily. It was still smoking, shrinking...

Red Rum suddenly tripped, yelling in surprise and anger; Agasa had grabbed his leg. As he fell, before he could catch himself, Vermouth grabbed his shoulders, refusing to let him climb to his feet, the one person in the room with the strength to restrain him.

“It's over, Ushi,” she said, her voice trembling. “It is long past time that we slept. Long past time that we joined the ancestors in the stars...”

“No!” Red Rum screamed, struggling furiously but somehow seeming disinclined to hurt her further. “It cannot end now!”

“The cops have gotten everyone else out!” Hakuba yelled, as he and Akai ran downstairs, helping Ran and Aoko shift furniture to reach them. “Hurry-”

“Kudo! The jewel!” Kaito yelled, pulling himself upright though he was pale and unsteady, raising his gun. “Throw it here!”

“Here!” Kudo cried, raising the red stone. The clear shell had burned away completely, leaving only the small red core, almost seeming to pulse. Eta and Ushi froze, staring entranced at it as he tossed it through the air.

“No!” Red Rum screamed, lurching upwards, reaching for it. Aoko ran forwards, almost visibly ablaze with a fury unseen even at Kid heists, and whacked it out of his reach with her mop.

Red Rum and Vermouth both gasped in pain as the jewel cracked when the mop struck it, and again when the jewel fell to the ground, at Ran's feet where she crouched, pausing next to Agasa.

“Ran!” Kudo screamed, pulling towards her even as Yukiko pulled him towards the door, taking advantage of Ushi and Eta's distraction to run.

“Oneechan!” Ai gasped in pain as Ran drew her fist back, kneeling over the jewel. She felt sure that it could not go that easily...

But it did. Boy, did it ever.

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Yukiko began running for the door the second the Pandora left Shinichi's hand, tugging at his arm to get him to follow, carrying Ai. Kaito was already pulling himself to his feet with Aoko's aid, Hakuba and Akai bending to pull Agasa up as Ran drew her fist back.

“Punch and run!” He screamed, pulling out of his mother's grip, determined not to leave without Ran. Besides, he couldn't help watching that jewel any more than Eta and Ushi could. He had felt it pulsing in his hand, like a heart, warm, burning, fragile...

“NOOOO!” Ushi screamed, pulling himself to his feet as Agasa was pulled away, up the stairs.

Ran slammed her fist down onto the glowing red stone. For a moment, time seemed suspended her fist glowing a bright, brilliant white. Then it made impact and the jewel shattered, twinkling red shards flying into the air in something that was almost too elegant to be called destruction.

Aoko hauled Kaito to his feet, he leaning on her as the pair backed towards the stairs after Agasa, Akai and Hakuba. Shinichi pushed his mother towards the door and grabbed Ran's arm as the falling shards continued to crumble and shatter, glancing back where Eta and Ushi lay. For a moment, he was grasped by the crazy urge to reach for them too. Ushi was moaning as if in physical pain, but Eta was silent. She raised her head to stare at the four of them- him, Ran, Aoko and Kaito. Then she smiled.

“I am so proud of you all,” Eta whispered, a tear running down her cheek. “Run.”

A second later, as Shinichi's nose registered the smell of gas, he realized why. He and Ran were halfway up the stairs when the first explosion happened.

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“Eta... why...?” Ushi groaned as his flesh burned. The shards of the dying Pandora had ignited the gas released from the Bunsen burner that Shinichi had broken with his kick. Eta lay with him, feeling her own flesh sear in the heat; soon, the fire would reach the gas taps for the Bunsen burners, then...

“It is time,” she whispered, reaching for him.

“It burns,” he gasped, clutching her hand. She smiled even as more tears poured down her cheeks, some running over the bridge of her nose to reach the floor. Even now, he didn't let go of her; even now, she couldn't let go of him. Never.

“You're not burning, Ushi,” she whispered, leaning over to be closer to him. “You're shining.” She closed her eyes as she pressed her lips to his, the eternal kiss, the last kiss, the sweetest kiss since their very first, ten thousand years ago...

Forever.

The fire reached the gas pipes.

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Shinichi and Ran had barely made it outside the lab when they were thrown forwards by the force of the blast, as the fire spread through the gas pipes, igniting the rest of the building and the rest of its, as Agasa frequently demonstrated, highly flammable materials, making the entire building explode.

Ran wrapped her arms around him- a little too tight, perhaps, and he winced as his right shoulder twinged, but it was better than being thrown as far as his lighter frame could fly- as she rolled forwards, curling into a little ball around him. Shinichi could only cling to her, eyes shut tight, waiting for things to be still so he could get off.

After a small eternity, Ran stopped rolling. They both lay there for a moment, breathing heavily, occasionally coughing in the smoky air, unknowing what had happened to the others but too frozen to move to find out...

“Ran-chan? Ran-chan!”

“Oi, Kudo!”

It was Hattori and Kazuha, their voices like a stimulant breaking through the numbing ringing in his ears. Ran gradually uncurled, still holding Shinichi on her lap. He pulled away from her a little and glanced around wildly, desperate to know- what had happened to the others? Haibara, his mother, Akai, Hakuba, Agasa, Kami above, Agasa...

All he could see of the mad inventor was his feet as Akai helped a couple of paramedics lift him into an ambulance that had magically appeared in the road. Looking around Agasa's yard, he saw his mother, who must have been flung like Ran, stagger to her feet, cradling a limp Ai, dazedly trying to pat down her curly blonde hair, which had been blown and fizzed into some kind of supernova around her head by the heat. Hakuba near the gate, helping Aoko lift Kuroba to his feet; his entire right trouser leg was now scarlet, and he was also coughing up a disturbing amount of blood. Akako was running towards them, pulling away from insistently questioning police officers.

“Yer Oyaji an' the CIA neechan've already been taken ta hospital,” Hattori informed him as he and Kazuha reached them, Ran setting Shinichi on his feet as Kazuha pulled her upright, “Occhan an' his wife too. They took off Gin's body as well, an' they found another one in yer house, Vodka's been cuffed... there goes Hakase...”

“Another couple of ambulances are on their way,” Nakamori-keibu reassured them, striding towards them, one arm raised to protect himself from the heat and gesturing to them to move away with the other. “Kuroba-kun, you twit, try and look a little less like the Kid so I don't have to arrest you, all right?”

“This do?” Kuroba said with a cheeky grin as his tie, coat, cape, hat and monocle all vanished, though blood was still dribbling down his chin.

“You recracked your ribs, you baka,” Hakuba said dryly, leading him over to sit down against the wall. Akako knelt next to him and Aoko, placing her hand over the various burns on their faces, arms and legs in turn.

Ran picked Shinichi up, wandering over to join them- her path was a little wobbly too, she must be feeling as dazed as Shinichi felt- and any thoughts of the indignity of it faded as Shinichi clung to her, feeling shaken to his core as what had just happened slowly replayed in his head. Could it really be... over...?

Yukiko thumped down near Aoko with an unusual lack of grace or energy, still cradling Ai, who was clutching her ribs, face contorted in pain. Her pain seemed to fade somewhat as Akako placed a tender hand on her forehead.

“I cannot heal,” she said softly, “but I can stop the pain.” Ran collapsed between Aoko and Yukiko, Shinichi still in her lap, the uninjured Hattori and Kazuha standing nearby, watching firemen fight to control the blaze and prevent it from spreading to the Kudo's house. Shinichi sighed in relief as the sting of his burns faded when Akako moved her hands over them.

“That really is impressive, Akako-san,” Hakuba said quietly, a strange smile on his face as he watched her work.

“It is only a small step to make up for the lives that I took,” Akako said sadly.

“But that you're willing to walk that path at all is a very noble thing,” Hakuba replied, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She placed her free hand tentatively over his, one still glowing softly as it numbed burns and bruises.

“He's right,” Shinichi croaked, finding his voice as he stared at the dancing light of the burning lab. “I don't... condone murder. But you feel remorse... you want to atone... that's more than many I meet. It's more than many of them… If you can do anything now, Koi- Kurosawa-san... it's to do a little good in the world.”

“And you did a lot by telling us how to destroy that damn thing,” Kaito said, pulling up something of his cheeky, cheery grin. “That was a hell of a punch, Mori-san. High-five, but be gentle, I beg of you.” Ran giggled a little giddily as she gently slapped Kaito's palm.

“It felt so brittle,” she said, letting her arm fall to the ground heavily. “Like a brick.”

“We'll take yer word fer it,” Hattori snorted, though Kazuha was nodding in what seemed to be genuine agreement.

“Were they still in there?” Akai asked, striding over, following an odd, invisible path which indicated the fringe where the heat radiating from the blaze became intolerable. They barely noticed it any more.

“Eta and Ushi? Yeah,” Shinichi said softly, still watching the fire as if hypnotized. “They can't survive it now.” Silent tears were streaming down Yukiko's face, cutting clean tracks in the ash and grime which surely coated them all now. Ran and Aoko too seemed on the verge of tears.

“Wow... look,” Aoko said quietly, wiping her eyes and pointing up at the sky. They all followed her gaze.

The light of the blaze had obliterated almost all of the stars. All that was visible was one large shining star, almost directly over them- though when Shinichi looked closer, it was slightly oblong, half of it having a bluish tint.

“Y'know,” Hattori said quietly, “When I first found yer message, when I was tryin' ta figure out what th' hell Eta was, one a' the things I thought it mighta have somethin' ta do with was Eta Carinae. It's a star- well, two, really. It's a super-luminous hypergiant, a luminous blue variable star.”

“I've read about Eta Carinae,” Kaito said quietly. “It's slowly merging over millions of years...”

“Two blue stars, merging...” Shinichi said softly.

They all sat there in silence, faces lit by the flickering light of the burning laboratory, waiting for the ambulances, staring up at the glowing double star. It brightened and dimmed, almost as though it were winking at them.

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He is indeed, StargateNerd. Enjoyed the Final Battletm? XD

This happened next, Mimzsilver… Heiji's summarized the Syndicate's losses, but what damages have the good guys sustained…? Good luck on your a-levels! ^_-

Arigato, Marie Ravenclaw! I keep meeting people younger than me, generally… I like meeting older people, though, so I can convince my dad that I'm not going to “grow out” of manga XD Most people need medical attention… who would mourn the wicked, eh?

Perhaps Jin-chan was in there somewhere, nataeiy1…. I doubt he could have returned at this point, though. Still, there'll always be something in his sister's memory…

And that was pretty much the climax, KageNoNeko… just the wind-down and fluff left…

Arigatou, Mel72000! Don't worry, there's plenty fizzing away in my twisted mind… XDXD

I've been to France in the past, FHP2208, and no offence but your driving is insane… not as bad as the Italians though XDXD Terrible title? I dunno, I tend to add the title once I'm done writing the chapters… and I couldn't think of anything better ^_^; Cliffhangers ahoy! Well, at least you've got plenty to read on Monday… I'm really glad you love it, though. It's fun to write, but just brilliant to know that people love what you write ^_^

Oh dear… I think I've killed KSA Key-chan (yay! Shorter name! XD) I shall revive her with… HAIL THE KAISHIN ARMY! XD

Arigato, Kyoko-chann! ^_^ Only four chapters and an epilogue left… T_T

Glad you love it, WolfDaughter ^_^… birthdays pull fans out of hiding XDXD

Guess you're not mourning, Pretztailfan95 XD Who has died, we shall see… not quite… it was response to your speculations on Akako's brother XD… having been on the “war graves and concentration camps” history class trips to France and Germany, heiling anybody makes me distinctly uncomfortable… >_>

Arigatou Gozaimasu, MyMelo! Akai's always wanted Gin dead… one pun that's never turned up in the English dubs of the manga is that Akai referred to both Akemi and Gin as “Koibito”, but depending on the kanji used it could mean “most beloved person” or “greatest enemy” (isn't Japanese fun? XD) it doesn't translate well so it probably won't be in the English version… I've taken to using the more conventional “koishii” for his references to Akemi. I wish there was some way to translate that pun properly… ^_^;

Arigatou Gozaimasu, Yuki Taiki! The end is nigh… T_T

I do not claim to own any of the characters in Meitantei Conan. They are the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho. All characters, couples and locations, if Canon, will be faithful to the manga, so if you're into fics with weird pairings like Shinichi and Heiji, the back button is at the top there. The fic may not make sense if you have not read up to chapter 698, which you can do at a site called (read between the lines) O/n/e/ma/n/g/a, but I advise you to buy the official Tankoban novels (up to volume 30 are out in English at the time of writing) so that Aoyama-sensei can afford to continue gracing us with his imagination. Now, I hope you enjoy the fic! (If you don't, please see my previous comments re the back button).